(Post 3 of 3) The Craftsman Ole Kristian Sandgreen Kunstvorksted Workshop Ilulissat, Greenland
Author: Jennifer Kingsley
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Family ties, Sisimiut, Greenland
Meet Tukumminnguaq Olsen. You can call her Tuku, and this is her great grandfather, Gustav Olsen. Tuku’s from Thule, West Greenland’s northernmost community, and this is a monument to her great grandfather which stands outside the church in Sisimiut. He was a Greenlandic missionary, and the plaque commemorates him and his wife, Ane-Sophia Olsen. “The…
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Greenland arrival
I’ve arrived in West Greenland, and it’s beautiful. Photo @ralphleehopkins.
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Svalbard gift delivery, Ottawa, Canada
Full circle moment. In June, I delivered a gift from World of Maps in Ottawa, Canada to the museum in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Yesterday I got to deliver the gift from Svalbard back to Ottawa. It was so much fun, and now I know how Santa feels. Brad and Petra loved the package and went crazy…
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Iqaluit farewell, Nunavut
Farewell for now, Iqaluit. This beach was home base all week. Each day, I watched the tide, and the ice, come and go. I saw a beluga between these ice floes and wondered each night if the ships would still be around in the morning. I loved the flowering tundra and met many new people….
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Artist rendezvous, Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
(Post 1 of 4) This is the place I was looking for. Just another house, or so I thought. I walked all around the neighbourhood this afternoon looking for the artist Matthew Nuqingaq. I didn’t know this was his studio, and I didn’t find anyone nearby, so I gave up and went for a cup…
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(Post 2 of 4) The first thing I noticed at the Baffin Deli was this necklace, and then the guy wearing it. I stopped to ask him about it, only to find out that he is Matthew Nuqingaq, the guy I was looking for. He brought me back here, to his studio. Notice the homemade…
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(Post 3 of 4) Barbra Akoak is a young artist working in Matthew’s studio. She engraved these ulu earrings with patterns from traditional tattoos that honour the seal. “The zig zag represents the flame of the qulliq” (a seal oil lamp). “I bless the metal, the stones, myself, everything. My family tells me that I’m…
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(Post 4 of 4) I met artist Matthew Nuqingaq by chance at the Baffin Deli, where he goes twice a day with the Grumpy Old Men’s Coffee Club. Maybe you will see him there.
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Parks and prayers, Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
(Post 1 of 2) It’s been about six weeks since I returned to the Arctic for this project, #meetthenorth. I will spend the next two years meeting northerners from different countries, and this weekend, during #ParksDay, I introduced myself to this friendly face. As often happens with Meet the North, an introduction led me somewhere…

